For a team that won 27 games in a row during the regular season, it's difficult to fathom how the Miami Heat have suddenly turned into one of the most wildly inconsistent outfits in recent memory. Yet here they are, having alternated wins and losses over their last 11 playoff games and locked in a 2-2 tie with the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Finals.
There are any number of exhaustive statistical approaches that might help pin down an explanation for the Heat's roller-coaster efforts recently, but most of them end up showing the same thing: when Miami gets stellar statistical performances from its Big Three and a good all-around defensive effort from the entire team, it wins.
Shocking, right?
For example, when LeBron James shoots a higher percentage from the field, gets to the line and affects the game on defense, Miami wins. When he's less effective in those areas, it loses.
Similarly, when the Heat have won in this postseason, they've held opponents to 41 percent shooting. When they've lost, opponents have hit more than 47 percent of their shots.
Oh sure, we could go deeper into the strateg ...
Read Full Article at Bleacher Report - NBA
Article written by Grant Hughes
Explaining Miami Heat’s Baffling Inconsistency in NBA Playoffs, Finals
June 15th, 2013 by Grant Hughes Leave a reply »
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